Nonantum Boxing Club to pay tribute to late Joe DeNucci at Fight Night

Tuesday

Apr 3, 2018 at 9:55 AMApr 3, 2018 at 9:55 AM

Ten years ago, founders of the fledgling Nonantum Boxing Club in Newton decided to do something to showcase their sport and benefit their roots in Newton at the Newton Boys & Girls Club.

On April 14, the NBC will celebrate the 10th anniversary of those fight nights honoring the man who linked the sport and the city for more than a half century with a tribute to late middleweight boxer and longtime state auditor Joe DeNucci at this year’s event held at the Sam Crocetti Gymnasium at 675 Watertown Street.

DeNucci was a championship contender from Newton who battled some top middleweights of his era before he turned his attention to politics. He served as Massachusetts state auditor for 24 years before his retirement in 2010. DeNucci was a fixture at the NBC – as well as other local boxing and athletic events – until the latter stages of his battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

DeNucci passed away in September at 78 years old – six months after the Nonantum Boxing Club Fight Night was renamed the Joe DeNucci Fight Night.

“He’s been huge to our family,” said NBC trainer Marc Gargaro. “We all basically grew up with him. He’s used to come down and visit us all the time at the club before his health started to decline. He would give us those old-school tips that not many boxers know nowadays.

“He was a big figure in all of our lives. It’s going to be an emotional night for us.”

Gargaro worked for DeNucci in the auditor’s office for nine years, while his cousin, Eric Busa, married into the DeNucci family. Gargaro said he, his brother, Nico Gargaro, and his cousins, NBC trainer Nathan Busa and Eric, have all been heavily involved in putting together this year’s event and trying to make it as special as possible in memory of the man who helped inspire them in the sport.

The NBC Fight Nights have been a main showcase for the club for the past decade as both a fundraiser and a night to put some of Nonantum’s top rising stars up against fighters from other clubs. The events used to be held at the since-closed Trinity Catholic High School before moving to the Boys & Girls Club.

“When we started doing these fight nights the club was in its infancy,” Gargaro said. “The Boys & Girls Club is something we all grew up with and it’s cool to have that constant all through the years we’ve been here at Nonantum.

“Last year, we had 350 to 400 people there. We have put together a good card for this year. It should be a good night.”

Among the highlights this year are the Silver Mittens championships that will pin some of the most promising youth fighters in the area against each other, as well as seven or eight bouts with top boxers from the NBC.

USA welterweight boxing champion Amelia Moore, of Virginia, will be up at NBC training this month and will be among those on hand.

“We’re trying to bring in some good talent,” Gargaro said. “We have a lot of stuff going on. It should be a good card to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club.”

Gargaro has had a chance to see some of the top amateur talent in the game throughout the world in recent months as an assistant coach for USA Boxing. He said he was asked to participate in some camps after applying for an open position and was added to the staff for the training camp in Colorado and an international competition in Bulgaria.

With more international events on the horizon, he said the goal is to be on the training team for the US in the 2020 Tokyo Games.

“It can be tough with the travel,” said Gargaro. “But it’s been a good little gig. I am learning a lot.”

He said he is going to be leaving some of the coaching to the staff on April 14 as he focuses on the tribute to DeNucci where his cousin, Eric, will do to the main dedication.

“Joe meant so much to all of us,” he said. “It’s going to be a huge night for us.”